May 1st 2024.
The Mississippi legislature, which is controlled by the GOP, recently made the decision to not hold final votes on two bills that aimed to restrict the rights of transgender individuals. This decision was made after House and Senate leaders were unable to come to a compromise on the bills before the April 29 deadline. Lawmakers claimed that they were focused on other pressing issues at the time.
One of the bills would have prohibited transgender individuals from using bathrooms and locker rooms in public buildings, as well as in university dorms. The other bill would have defined sex as only being determined at birth and stated that there are only two genders, male and female. With both the House and Senate passing different versions of the bills, they would need to agree on a single version before being sent to the governor, Republican Tate Reeves.
It is worth noting that Governor Reeves has already signed two bills related to transgender rights in the past. In 2021, he signed a bill that banned transgender athletes from competing on girls' or women's sports teams. And in 2023, he signed a bill that prohibited gender-affirming hormones or surgery for transgender individuals under the age of 18.
These bills are just a few of the many that are being considered by lawmakers across the United States, as the Republican party looks to limit the rights and freedoms of the transgender community. This includes restricting access to gender-affirming care, bathrooms, and even sports. Despite the Biden administration officially adding "gender identity" to the list of protections against sex-based discrimination in Title IX, some state education officials have instructed schools to ignore these new regulations.
For example, Louisiana's Superintendent of Education, Cade Brumley, wrote a letter stating that the new regulations seem to directly contradict a state law that bans transgender student-athletes from competing on teams that align with their gender identity. He assured schools that this law would apply to athletics moving forward. Similar sentiments have been echoed by top education officials in Oklahoma, Florida, Montana, and South Carolina, who have all directed their districts to defy the new rule.
Education and policy advocates are concerned that these actions put school districts at risk of facing legal challenges. If they follow the federal regulation, they could face backlash from their state governments. But if they ignore federal law, they could potentially face a civil rights investigation and lose federal funding. Francisco M. Negrón, Jr., founder and CEO of the school law advocacy and policy firm K12Counsel, believes that this puts schools in a difficult and unmanageable position.
He explains, "It's clear that, in some areas, schools will have to make a decision about which rules to follow, and this could have significant consequences." It is a complex and controversial issue that continues to be debated and has far-reaching implications for the transgender community and the education system as a whole.
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